We had an extremely successful food drive last week, taking an amazing 2.1 tonnes of food in just three days. The collection took place at Tesco on the Birmingham Road from Thursday 21st November to Saturday 23rd November with the food donated valued at over £3,700.
The collection was a huge team effort and included a rota of over 40 volunteers. Stratford’s business community also made a significant contribution; Enterprise vans helped transport food to SITEL – where the Foodbank has some off site storage – NFU Mutual and Coop Legal services sent colleagues to assist with the collection, and staff at Tesco’s made the Foodbank volunteers very welcome.
Foodbank Manager Marion Homer said,
“I never take the rush of kindness seen during our food drives for granted, and I’d like to thank every single person who contributed, this really was a community wide achievement. We currently we provide 255 parcels a month, and, whilst we don’t believe we should need to deliver this service to our town, the generosity of local residents means we can sustain this support during the winter months.
“Every day I am in awe of what our volunteers achieve. The food drives are huge logistical operations, not only do our volunteers sort and shelve food but they manage newer volunteers to turn up at the right time, and in the right place to receive the donations. They do all this whilst still responding to the needs of ever increasing numbers coming through our doors as the weather gets colder and Christmas approaches.
“Last Friday we had one of our busiest distribution sessions on record. We provided food for 48 people (almost half the parcels were for children) and clients were queuing before our session even started. Despite all this busyness our volunteers displayed an unending sense of compassion. Every year, they face the end of November and December with an incredible mix of love, practicality and grit. They truly are incredible!”
“With the election close we are campaigning hard to ensure that Stratford’s next MP, whoever that is, works with us to end the need for a foodbank in our town. However, whilst the need remains this food drive means we can confidently support our community during the winter months.“
To see photographs taken during the event please follow the following links or scroll through the imaages below
Day 1 – Thursday 21st November with Co-op Legal volunteers link
Day 2 – Friday 22nd November with NFU Volunteers link
Day 3 – Sat 23rd November link
